How QAnon Conspiracies Took Over This Town’s Politics

A QAnon-promoting mayor. Armed vigilantes looking to scare off “Antifa.” And a heated fight over an opioid treatment center? Reporter Jen Kinney takes us to one small town in Washington State, where the paranoid style of American politics is turning even the most local issues into conspiracy theories.

MORE:

• This small town shows how QAnon is quietly going mainstream.  
• In a remote part of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, a local gun shop owner became convinced that Antifa was coming. It culminated in a bizarre standoff deep in the woods.
• A leading antisemetic QAnon influencer quietly works as a chiropractor at a physical therapy clinic in Denver. 
• QAnon-loving millionaires are trying to steal Arizona for Trump.
• QAnon is tearing families apart. VICE News talked to dozens of people and found that there’s no such thing as a typical Q follower.

CREDITS: 

This episode was reported and produced by Jen Kinney. 

VICE News Reports is produced by Jesse Alejandro Cottrell, Jen Kinney, Janice Llamoca and Julia Nutter. Our senior producers are Ashley Cleek and Adizah Eghan. Our associate producers are Sam Eagan, Sophie Kazis, and Adreanna Rodriguez. Sound design and music composition by Steve Bone and Kyle Murdock. 

Our executive producer and VP of VICE Audio is Kate Osborn. Janet Lee is senior production manager for VICE Audio. Production coordination by Steph Brown. Fact checking by Nicole Pasulka. 

Episode art by our host, Arielle Duhaime-Ross.